During the construction of the Elk Grove location, I was tasked with configuration and installation of the IT network, Cisco VoIP, IP CCTV camera system, and integrating an exchange server at the new location.

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I have been doing some research on a linux based open source VOIP server software called Asterisk. Wandering if anyone out there has any hands on experience to speak from on this one. I am new to the VOIP world but like linux and anything that could prevent me from buying some proprietary crap that will rape our company of $ for licensing.

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Pure Asterisk is not something that is trivial to learn. Look at free distros built on Asterisk. Check out Elastix. You can download and install for free, get all the standard PBX features for free, and use just about any phone that supports SIP (could be a physical handset or soft phone).

I'm running an Elastix PBX on a VM with 1 GB RAM and 1 core for about 70 extensions, and it's working like a dream.

Before you go down that road, profile your company's call usage. In terms of bandwidth, you are looking at about 87Kbps per concurrent call that must be deducted to VOIP traffic.

SIP providers normally charge based on the number of concurrent calls you need at any given time. I recommend using a 3rd party SIP provider like Broadvox rather than your ISP for best flexibility and DR potential.